The NSW Electoral Commission has chosen Spanish vendor Scytl to provide electronic voting software for the 2015 NSW election, on what could be the first occasion the public is allowed to vote via the internet. The commission introduced an electronic voting system, known as iVote, at the 2011 state election, for citizens with vision impairment and other disabilities. A draft report from a joint parliamentary inquiry into electoral matters due to be tabled in Parliament this week calls for access to iVote to be extended to all voters. Inquiry chairman Liberal MP Gareth Ward says the measure would be an Australian first and would make it easier for people to participate in the democratic process. Concerns about security and fraud have been raised on a number of occasions with electronic elections, although a number of other countries have reported few such problems.
A tender for a supplier to develop and implement a new core voting system for iVote prior to the 2015 election was advertised last November. The commission is understood to have selected Scytl from a shortlist of three. Its iVote steering committee advised tenderers of the selection via email.
Scytl software is used to run a number of local government polls around the world, including in Victoria where since 2006 it has worked with the state on voting kiosks for people with disabilities. It was last used to run local government elections in Ecuador on February 23. The Ecuadorian government is reportedly considering sanctions against the company following significant performance difficulties including slow and incomplete tallying.
Full Article: Spanish firm wins NSW iVote tender.